Your Personal Guide to Fibromyalgia [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

by Arthritis Foundation (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 221 pages
• Publisher: Longstreet Press; 1 edition (May 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1563523825
• ISBN-13: 978-1563523823
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,034,220 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A major disapointment from the Arthritis Foundation., June 25, 1998

By A Customer

This book was a long awaited publication by the Arthritis Foundation. I could not wait until it was available. However, upon reading the book, I found it to be filled with propaganda, that has a pull yourself together and pretend your not in pain atittutude. While it has been admitted that Fibromyalgia can be as disabling as Rheumatoid Arthritis, a chapter on disability issues is not included in the book. People with Fibromyalgia are suffering with a Chronic Invisible Illness which usually takes years before proper diagnosis and treatment can be started. For some afflicted with this condition daily life becomes full of pain. Excercise and self care are important, but for many of us disability is still a reality. More money needs to be spent for research on this condition. I hope that a future revised edition will take a realistic look at those of us that suffer with Fibromyalgia. No amount of smiling throught the pain or denying what your body is feeling is going to lead to a better life. It will leave us detatched from our feelings and out of touch with our bodies. Without listening to your body, taking good care of your self, conserving your energy and excercising wisely, you cannot find peace with this often life long condition.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Authors need to be more educated, June 10, 1999

By A Customer

This book sends some very bad messages. It does not explain how the course of fibromyalgia can be mild, moderate, or severe. Some people with severe FMS have incapacitating pain. This book implies, that, if you have incapacitating pain, you are 'just giving into it', and 'you need to find better ways of dealing with your pain than laying in bed'. Unfortunately, people who do not have FMS read books like these, and get the wrong messages about people with severe FMS. I would not recommend this book.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Book helped me be in control and not the disease., January 8, 2000

By	Terri Woodmansee (Phoenix, AZ) - See all my reviews

I found this book extremely helpful to myself and a 17yr old girl who was recently diagnosed. We applied the charts and routines and really payed attention to the information. Any disease can gain control of you if you let it. I have a history of chronic heart disease and have learned that there is more to controlling a disease and recognizing how is the beginning. For this book to be helpful you must be open minded and really listen to the message and be honest with yourself in order to get control of the disease. But I can guarantee anyone with the disease if you apply this book thoroughly it will make all the difference in the world. My doctor read the book in order to help treat me and that helped even more. We are only in the beginning of understanding this disease so don't expect your family and friends to know or understand it, most doctors don't consider it unless there is nothing else to call it. But it's real and debilitating. Try It!